Distilling apparatus



P 1937- B. o. DAUBERT DISTILLING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct.28, 1953 April 27, 1937. B. o. DAUBERT DISTILLING APPARATUS 5Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 28, 1935 W PEMMWP WMEMWEMMW llll. MEMEMMWWPEPB. afiaiuzerz April 27, 1-937. 5 DAUBERT 2,078,914

' r I DISTILLING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 28, 193:5 3 Sfiets-Sheet s 3.aziauerz Patented Apr. 27, 1937 umrso stares Amer cler cs v inventionrelates to distilling apparatus relation more particularly to anapparatus; of this kindiespeciall'y designed and adapt: edi fbri, use inI the dry distillation of shale, coal,

lig-nit'e, andv other like carbonaceous materials to recover oil. and;gas. from such material and in connection .withli'gnite to produce achar which can be usediasagfuell to the same advantage as a hi h rade iit. W a

It is; anfcbject of the invention to provide an apparatus. oi this; kindcomprising, a series of retortsintoj the material to be treated issuccessively delivered'to assure a continuous operation of the apparatusand wherein, the, retorts aref'lofi different temperatures to assuresuch, breaking down material as tacffect' the de- 30 with the provisionof meanswhereby: such gases before being collected are caused to flowback through the various heating zones to further aid the breaking downof the material and to driveoff the lighter gases:

i 5 f The'invention consists inthe details of conand in the combinationand arrange- 'mentf of] the" severar parts of my improveddistillingapparatus whereby certain important advantages areattained"and thedevice rendered sinrpl'enl res-s expensive and otherwisemore convenient andadvanta-geous-fcr use, as'will" be hereinafter morefully set forth.

Thenovel features of my invention will hereinafter be definitelyclaimed. m order that my invention may be the better understood, 1'will'now proceed to describe the 'same reference tothe accompanyingdrawings, whereinb- I Figure 1 is a View top plan and; of somewhat.azdi'a-grammatic character of a distillin apparatds: constructedaccordance with an embodiment of my invention;

Figure 2: is a. view partly in side elevation and partly longitudinal;vertical; section taken thrcughwthejstructure as illustrated in Figure.1,

1 Glaim'. "(Cl- 202113) said figure being. on a reduced scale withrespect to- Figure 1 and also illustrating an associated condenser; V

Figure. 3 is: a fragmentary detail view illustrating the valve mechanismat the delivery end 5 of-the apparatus;

Figure 4 is ahvertical transverse sectional view taken substantially onthe line 41-4 of Figure 3',

Asdisclosed in the accompanying drawings, my improved. apparatuscomprises a series of'verti 1 0 cally disposed heating chambers l formedby the. walls 2. of} masonry. These chambers I are each. independent of,the other and separated by interposed masonry walls and arranged, alongand within the. lower portion of, each of the 1.5 chambers t arethe.burners-3, in which is used any desired. fuel capable oi producing thedesired results, To. one side of the apparatus is a verticallydisposedgstack 4 closed at the top and having. its lowerend opening in aconventional manner into an underground draft pit. This stack.4 atpoints intermediateitsends has in: communication, therewith the flue.pipes 5 leading tram the chambers l whereby the products of combustionare taken fromuthe, chambers L. r a Disposed through each of thechambers L are anumber of retorts 6 positioned above the burners- 3vwithin the chamber and so positioned one withhrespect, to; the other andto the walls of the chamber. to. assure efiective circulation of heataround the retorts to produce the desired temperature: therein. Thenumber of retorts 6: in a chamber l may be, as. desired and each retort(i-in a chamber 1. is; in communication at one end with a correspondingend of the retort in the chamber immediately therebelow by thevertically disposed connecting pipe I. The pipes 1 connecting adjacentvertical retorts 6. are alternately arranged at opposite ends of theretorts 40 wherebya continuous. flow oi material may be hadtherethroughin whatmay betermed a tortuous path,

Each oi the retorts. 6; is tightly closed at its ends and theuppermostretort 6 at its extremityremote from its discharge line t has incommunication therewith from above a feed line 8 extending through thetop wall of the masonry and leading from a hopper 9 in which thecarbonaceous material, such as lign-ite is initially depositedInter-posed in thisline 8 is a valve casing H)- in whichis snuglyengaged for rotary movement a feed valve; M. This valve H atdiametrically opposed points is provided with the pockets l2 wherebyupon rotation of the valve member ll material from the hopper 9 will beintermittently delivered to the uppermost retort 6, and it is to beparticularly noted that the construction and assembly of the valvemember ll Within the casing I0 is such as to maintain the line 8airtight at all times. The valve member H is to be rotated in any mannerpreferred and as the means for operating such valve member forms noparticular part of the present invention it is not believed that adescription and illustration is required in connection with suchoperation.

The lowermost retort 6 at one end portion has leading therefrom adischarge pipe line I4 which delivers material to a cylindrical conveyorhousing l5 underlying and common to all of the retorts 6 within thelowermost chamber I. This conveyor housing has its ends closed againstadmission of air.

This housing l5 extends, as disclosed in the accompanying drawings, adesired distance to one side of the masonry structure and said extendedportion has a depending discharge spout I6 which delivers within an endportion of an elongated cylindrical cooling chamber IT. This chamber 1!I is constructed with spaced walls between which a cooling medium isadapted to be circulated. The end portion of the cooling chamber I!remote from its communication with the spout I6 has in communicationtherewith a depending discharge spout I8 which intermittently deliversupon a suitably operated carry-off conveyor I 9. This discharge spout l8has interposed therein a suitably operated valve member similar to thevalve member I l hereinbefore referred to whereby the intermittentdischarge from the chamber I1 is effected and at the same time thedischarge end of said chamber [1 is maintained at all times closedagainst the admission of air.

Each of the retorts 6 at its upper part is upwardly offset fromsubstantially one end to the other, as at 20, the lower or open face ofsaid offset portion being relatively broad whereby is provided a passage2i to be hereinafter more particularly referred to.

The open face of the offset portion 20 of a retort 6 also relievesagainst frictional resistance the upper portion of the spiral blade 22arranged within each of the retorts 6 and which rotates with the shaft23. This shaft 23 together with its blade 22 provides a conveyor wherebythe material received within one end portion of the retort is carried tothe opposite or discharge end of the retort at a desired rate of travel.

The shaft 23 may be driven in any desired manner as indicated by thesprocket chains 24 in the accompanying drawings. Any one of the shafts23 may be directly connected with the desired source of power.

It is also to be noted that the feed line 8 communicates with an endportion of an upper retort 6 through the offset portion 20 thereof whileeach of the discharge pipes is in communication with the offset portion29 of the retort 6 therebelow.

Working in the housing 15 is a suitably driven spiral conveyor 25 and asuitably driven spiral convleyor 26 operates within the cooling chamber1.

Each of the retorts 6 in the uppermost chamber I has in communicationfrom above with the offset portion 29 thereof adjacent to the dischargeend of such retort a gas carry-off pipe 21 which leads to and dischargeswithin a separating chamber 28. The pipe or line 21 extends within saidchamber 28 and terminates at a point relatively close to the bottom ofsuch chamber. The gas separated in the chamber 28 passes through theline 29 to a condenser 30 of any desired type and leading from thecondenser 39 is a gas outlet line 3| which leads to a suitable place ofstorage for the gas. Interposed in this line 3| is a suitably operatedsuction fan, generally indicated at 32 in Figure 2, which operates toassure the desired flow of the gas throughout the entire apparatus aswill be hereinafter referred to. The line 29 adjacent its communicationwith the condenser 39 has interposed therein a separating trap 33 toassure the gas as it enters the condenser to be substantially pure.

The material, such as lignite, to be treated is initially delivered tothe hopper 9 and from said hopper it is intermittently discharged intoan uppermost retort 6. This upper retort is heated to between 700 F. and800 F. and the remaining retorts therebelow in succession are ofincreased temperature. The second retort from the top is preferably of atemperature of approximately 850 F.; the third retort 950 F.; and thefourth retort 1080 F. It is to be understoood that each retortconstitutes a heating zone of the same temperature throughout. Thematerial to be treated passes down to the lower retort 6 throughthe'line 1 and the material is moved at desired speed through theretorts under the action of the spiral conveyors 22. As the materialpasses through the various retorts 6 the material is broken down toallow the release of the gases and. as such gases are released they aredrawn back through the lower retorts and out through the line I andthrough the line 29 to the condenser 39. This travel of gas is assuredby the action of the fan 32 and such travel is further facilitated andassured by the passages 2| pro vided along the upper. portions of theretorts 6. Moisture and other impurities in the gas will be separated asthe gas passes through the chamber 28, such separated impurities beingcarried off through the line 34. The trap 33 hereinbefore referred toand which is in the line 29, alsoprovides for a further separation ofthe impurities in the gas'before the gas enters the condenser, saidseparated impurities being carried off through the line 35.

In the treatment of lignite, as the same is discharged through the spoutl6 into the cooling chamber I1 such material as a result of the releaseof the gas therefrom is in the best possible condition for use as afuel. As the material or char is discharged into the chamber I! the sameis immediately subjected to a cooling action which is highly importantas the further breaking of the material at that time is no longerdesired.

By my apparatus as herein disclosed it is believed to be understooodthat the distillation of the carbonaceous material results in areduction of moisture and of volatile matter together with the recoveryof oils as is particularly facilitated by the separating chamber 28 andtrap 33. It is also to be understood from the foregoing that the desireddistillation is assured in view of the fact that at all times theretorts 6 are airtight and that the operation is continuous.Furthermore, it is to be noted that each of the retorts 6 of a seriesare entirely independent of each other so as to assure the maintenanceof the desired difierent temperatures.

From the foregoing description it is thought to be obvious that adistilling apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention isparticularly well adapted for use by reason of the convenience andfacility with which it maybe assembled and operated, and it will also beobvious that my invention is susceptible of some change and modificationwithout departing from the principles and spirit thereof and for thisreason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precisearrangement and formation of the several parts herein shown in carryingout my invention in practice except as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:-

An apparatus for carbonizing lignite including a vertical series ofhorizontally disposed closed metallic retorts, a chamber enclosing eachretort, the several chambers being entirely separated from each othereach retort having an inlet and an outlet at opposite ends, the outletof all retorts except the last leading into the inlet of the retortbelow, open flame heating means individual to anddisposed within theseveral chambers and entirely exterior to each retort, the heating meansfor each chamber being independently controllable from the heating meansfor any other chamber, continuously operable means in each retort forcausing the material to travel from the inlet of the retort to theoutlet end thereof, means for delivering material into the inlet end ofthe uppermost retort and including means for preventing access of air tothe interior of the uppermost retort, means for causing the discharge ofmaterial from the lowermost retort including means preventing the inletof air, means for permitting the gases to pass upward successively fromthe lowest retort through the successive retorts of the series, andmeans for positively withdrawing said gases from the uppermost retort.

BANKS O. DAUBERT.

